Portable devices have evolved from large cumbersome analog tape players to highly miniaturized digital storage devices. Early portable audio devices were typically in the form of analog tape players. Early tape players were large devices that required significant battery power for satisfactory operation. Analog tape players, such as the SONY Walkman™, provided a relatively compact device that played a standard audio cassette, required multiple batteries because of the power consumption required to drive the motor. Although these were popular devices, their large size and weight were a significant drawback. Similarly, portable disk players, capable of playing a compact disk (CD) were large and bulky. Portable CD players are also susceptible to vibration and require significant circuitry to avoid skipping.
More recently, portable digital devices have been designed to eliminate all moving parts. These devices incorporate solid state memory storage technology and utilize digital processing capabilities, such as data compression, to minimize the storage requirements. A popular music format, known as Motion Pictures Expert Group layer 3 (MPEG-1 layer 3) defines a digital music format that plays “near-CD quality” music from a relatively small digital file as compared to the original digital file stored on a CD. Indeed, a music data file using the data structure defined by MPEG-2 layer 3, sometimes abbreviated as MP3, is approximately one-tenth the size of a comparable data file on a CD. In addition, the solid state storage used in a typical MP3 player does not include a CD and thus is not susceptible to skipping. Furthermore, the solid state format of MP3 does not include a tape, such as required by a cassette player, and thus does not destroy the data storage device by “eating” the tape.
Despite these improvements, MP3 players have limited solid state storage capacity. Several different types of memory devices, such as flash memory, smart media, MMC, and the like, are used to provide storage. Other types of spinning media devices, such as hard disk drives and micro-drives, may be used to provide additional storage capacity for an MP3 player. However, the motor associated with such spinning media consumes a significant amount of power. This is a significant problem in a battery operated portable device. Accordingly, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a system and method for optimizing data transfer from a spinning media storage device. The present invention provides this and other advantages, as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.